ARTISTS' STATEMENT:

I have always loved puzzles and mysteries, and taking things apart and putting them back together.

I think that reflects in my artwork. When I start a piece I have no specific concept in mind. I work intuitively and let the papers and splotches of ink guide me until an image emerges. What I see in the abstract image is often different from what those around me see, a little like a Rorschach test.

I like to work in layers, often hiding one artwork behind another, peeking through here and there. And I love variety. I’m constantly experimenting with shapes and colors, styles and patterns, bits of found objects and ephemera, ‘painting’ with paper, glue and ink. There are some immediate successes and some dismal failures…those failures become incorporated into other artwork as I start building a new piece.

My dream is that my work will distract the viewer from the chaos of life for a few moments and give them something else to wonder about.

BIOGRAPHY:

I was born in 1954 in Wausau, Wisconsin and have lived most of my life here although I have traveled throughout most of the United States, and Europe, with briefer visits to Canada and Mexico. My father was an American soldier who brought my mother, a German immigrant, back to Wisconsin after World War II. I grew up with four older siblings and one younger, but was the first to graduate from college. I received my Bachelor's Degree in Art in 1980 from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. After graduation I got a "regular" job working for Congressman David Obey for 25 years. I took early retirement from government work to return to more artistic pursuits.

I began again by creating textile art in 2012, then transitioned to paper in 2014, both in recognizable subjects. But I was always drawn to abstract art more than realism and eventually found the courage to work from my head. I continue working primarily with paper, glue and ink although bits of metal have found their way onto the canvas. The first two years were extremely challenging and frustrating. It wasn't until mid-2016 that I started to feel more comfortable working only with my imagination, inspired by a texture or color or piece of ephemera. I have no specific image in mind when I begin a piece, so I work intuitively. The toughest part is knowing when a piece is complete.

I hope you enjoy the images of the work in my website gallery as much as I enjoy creating them.

RECENT WISCONSIN SELECTED EXHIBITS AND AWARDS:

2019 March - May: WVAA Exhibit at Howard Young Medical Center: First Place and Honorable Mention